The Taking Office exhibition was on display in the lobby of
the Library of Virginia from October 29, 2001 through June 22,
2002.

On
Saturday, January 12, 2002, the commonwealth of Virginia will
mark the inauguration of its three highest elected
officials-the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the
attorney general. Witnessing
the event will be both houses of the General Assembly, a large
company of invited guests, and members of the news media. Chances are that the weather on this first Saturday after
the second Wednesday in January will be cold. In a ceremony that has not changed significantly in
almost a century, the new governor and his colleagues will take
an oath of office to support and defend the state's constitution
and to execute the laws of the commonwealth. But Virginia's governors have not always staged a public
inauguration and the celebrations that now are familiar. Taking
Office: Inaugurations
of Virginia's Governors documents how the gubernatorial
inauguration has evolved from a quiet ceremony to a public
event.

Between
1624 and 1776 Virginia's governors received their appointments
from the British Crown. The
king or queen appointed and authorized the governor to
administer the colony according to the instructions sent by the
Crown and its ministers. The
new governor or his deputy, the lieutenant governor, took the
oaths of office in solemn ceremonies before members of the
governor's Council, most often in the Council Chamber in the
colony's Capitol. Under the Virginia Constitution of 1776, the General Assembly
elected a governor each year. No person could be elected governor for more than three
successive terms. Virginia's
governor acted only with the cooperation of the executive
Council that the assembly also elected. The inauguration ceremony consisted of a justice of the
peace administering the oath of office.